Laundry and pins...

[BigBrother]

Very simply question, I'm just new to all this stuff- going to wash my shirt, curious what people do in the service with regard to their pins- remove everything and re-attach? These days, do they do dry cleaning and can the metal just hold up?

Just have no idea how pins were handled back then, or today, when it was wash day!

Thanks all.

[QED4]

Remove and replace. If you don't the washing machine will but it will not replace them.

[Allan H.]

In military laundries of the WWII period, uniforms were washed in machines- no dry cleaning was offered. Any insignia found on uniforms would be removed and thrown in a large bucket by the soldiers handling the wash. Uniforms were then returned to the soldiers folded in their laundry bags. Nothing was hung up- everything was folded. Any missing insignia was the responsibility of the soldier to replace at his own expense, so the soldier would make sure that he got everything removed before it went to the Quartermaster Laundry.

 

Allan

[BigBrother]

In military laundries of the WWII period, uniforms were washed in machines- no dry cleaning was offered. Any insignia found on uniforms would be removed and thrown in a large bucket by the soldiers handling the wash. Uniforms were then returned to the soldiers folded in their laundry bags. Nothing was hung up- everything was folded. Any missing insignia was the responsibility of the soldier to replace at his own expense, so the soldier would make sure that he got everything removed before it went to the Quartermaster Laundry.

 

Allan

 

Very useful (and informative!) Thank you!

[patches]

Just to show you how far it could be taken, in the 30s in Hawaii, and Panama soldiers wore after a certain point Khaki coats, here they had ther shoulder patch and sometimes sleeve ranks applied to the uniform coat by male and female snaps, and in other more rarer case by plates and cotter pins, to remove every time the coat had to be laundered. this same method was used in India and China during WWII with Khaki Bush Jackets of the English type.

 

Here on example of a 30s solduer of the Hawaii based 41st Coast Artillery Regiment, Hawaiian Separate Coastal Artillery Brigade. See how his Brigade patch is not flat to the cloth, not flush, that's because it's not sewn to coat but snapped to shoulder area, the one set of snaps are sewn directly to the shoulder area with the other set sewn to the rear of the patch, his ranks seem to sewn on, which is odd given these were wool, and might get damaged or shrink too like the shoulder patch.